Settlement in Bedsore Case

A settlement in Knox County represents the largest settlement in a nursing home case in the county. The $600,000 settlement was achieved by Parker & Parker. Robert J. Short, 74 yr old patient of the home, developed a pressure sore which progressively got worse, and resulted in his hospitalization, and one month later, significantly contributed to his death. The case, Parker said, was very preventable, and he credits that wrongful death as the reason the settlement was so large.

In addition to the negligence and lack of treatment of the sore, there were multiple instances where the nurses lied to the family about the state of the sore. They told the family that it was getting better, when in fact it was getting worse. The sore reached the point where it was releasing foul smelling green drainage and exposing bone, leading to the bone infection that caused Short to be hospitalized.